Atlantia to Sell Impregilo Stake to Gavio, Buy Chile Road

Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Atlantia SpA’s Autostrade per
l’Italia toll-road division agreed to sell its stake in builder
Impregilo SpA to Gavio Group’s Argo Finanziaria division in a
cash and asset-swap that helps it expand in South America.

ArgoFin will get Atlantia’s 33 percent stake in IGLI, the
biggest investor in Impregilo with a 29.96 percent holding, for
87.6 million euros ($117.8 million), Rome-based Atlantia said in
a statement yesterday. Gavio’s Societa Iniziative Autostradali &
Servizi toll-road unit will shift its 45.765 percent stake in
Autostrade Sudamerica, which controls Chile’s Autopista do
Pacifico motorway, to Autostrade per l’Italia for 565.2 million
euros, SIAS and Atlantia said in separate statements.

Atlantia, Italy’s biggest toll-road operator, predicted in
December that earnings this year will rise as it wins contracts
outside its home market. The transactions with Gavio will help
fulfill a strategy of expanding “in countries with the highest
growth potential,” Atlantia said today.

Autostrade per l’Italia will also buy a further 8.5 percent
of Autostrade Sudamerica from Mediobanca SpA for 104.6 million
euros, Atlantia said. The transfer of stakes in Autostrade
Sudamerica from SIAS and Mediobanca is expected by June 30, it
said.

A call option for SIAS to buy Autostrade per l’Italia’s
99.98 percent stake in Turin-Savona toll road in Italy for 223
million euros is also included in the agreement, SIAS and
Atlantia said. The option is set to expire on Sept. 30.